The first Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Boat, represented by the Italian acronym PPA, baptized Paolo Thaon di Revel, and bearing the hull number P430, was launched this Monday, June 17 at the Muggiano shipyards, located in La Spezia, between Genoa and Pisa , in the presence of the Italian Minister of Defense, Elizabetta Trenta, the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral Girardelli, and the President of Fincantieri, Guiseppe Bono.
First in a series of 7 buildings ordered in 2015, to replace the 4 light frigates of the Soldati class, and the corvettes of the Minerva class, the Paolo Thaon di Revel will be of the light standard, that is to say equipped with a 127mm gun and a 76mm gun, but lacking an anti-aircraft missile and an anti-ship missile, although it had spaces reserved to be equipped with them. Of the 7 PPAs ordered, 2 are light standard, three light + intermediate standard, and two heavy standard, equipped with all the planned weapons and detectors.
The PPAs are imposing buildings, reaching 5800 tons in load, and having a very efficient CODAG energy production capacity, combining a GE LM2500 gas stand of 32 Mw, two MTU diesels of 10 Mw each, and 6 diesel electric generators producing a total power of 10 Mw. They have an autonomy of 5000 nautical miles at 15 knots, and can be equipped, depending on the version, with 16 Aster30 anti-aircraft missiles, 8 Otomat anti-ship missiles, 2 triple 533mm torpedo tubes, and have a hangar and a platform that can accommodate 2 SH90 helicopters or an AW101 Merlin helicopter. The detection suite is also potentially very complete, the heavy version carrying an aerial radar with dual-band AESA 3D antennas from Leonardo-Fincantieri, an infra-fog detector and an ATAS variable depth sonar, as well as a complete range of communication systems.
The 7 PPAs will support the 10 FREMMs of the Marina Militare (4 ASM and 6 multipurpose), and the 2 Horizon anti-aircraft frigates, bringing the Italian navy well ahead of the National Navy in terms of 1st rank frigates and destroyers, the latter only having to have, in the long term, 2 horizons, 6 FREMM ASM, 2 FREMM anti-aircraft, and 5 FDI Belharra, buildings approximately equivalent in terms of military capacity to the heavy PPAs.
